On January 27, 2020 Deputy Associate Attorney General Stephen Cox provided keynote remarks at the 2020 Advanced Forum on False Claims and Qui Tam Enforcement. He began by discussing enforcement and recent cases, emphasizing that enforcing the False Claims Act (FCA) is a top priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ). In the past …

In May 2019, a Boston jury convicted five Insys Therapeutics executives on federal racketeering charges for bribing doctors to prescribe opioid painkillers to patients who did not need them and defrauding Medicare, private insurance and patients, under conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and anti-kickback statutes. However, there have been some recent, favorable …

After a six-week trial, a federal, Dallas jury returned a mixed verdict in a trial involving a compounding pharmacy which allegedly made kickback payments to doctors and others. Overall, the verdict was a victory for a defense with only one trial defendant being convicted on any charges. The Allegations Defendants were charged with conspiracy …

On September 9, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit held that the False Claims Act (FCA) requires an objective falsity and that a difference of opinion between doctors is insufficient. While there is no dispute that the FCA requires falsity, there is little guidance interpreting the objective falsity requirement. United States v. AseraCare, No. 16-13004 (11th …

On September 26, 2019, a bill prohibiting punishment of acquitted conduct was introduced in the United States Senate.  The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2019 (“Act”) would amend 18 U.S.C. § 3661 to stop increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has been acquitted by a jury. Currently, § 3661 …

The opioid epidemic has killed nearly 400,000 Americans since 1999, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the death toll from opioid addiction continues to rise. Based upon the patient harm and the costs of managing this epidemic, there is no end in sight for federal, state and private …

In Cochise Consultancy, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Hunt, No. 18-315 (2019), the Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations period in 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b)(2) begins to run when the government official responsible for acting, and not the relator, knew or should have known of the relevant facts.  This applies to False Claims …

On May 6, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidance explaining how the DOJ awards credit to defendants who cooperate during a False Claims Act investigation. The policy states that the DOJ will consider (1) voluntary disclosure of wrongdoing, (2) cooperation in an ongoing investigation, and (3) taking remedial measures in response to the …

Healthcare providers’ offering patients a discount may be permissible under certain situations. However, in the current legal climate, providers must be extremely careful when doing so, because offering such discounts can implicate numerous federal and state laws. These laws include the federal and state antikickback statutes, the travel act, healthcare fraud and other state …

Dallas Morning News, Kevin Krause, www.dallasnews.com, February 21, 2019 They’re medical innovators and pioneers, their attorneys said, who saved some lives and improved many others. The surgeons brought patients to a “state-of-the-art” Dallas hospital called Forest Park Medical Center. But did they illegally put their own financial interests before everything else, including their patients? …